I had my annual review today and have met or exceeded my goals. Yay! So, I will probably get between a 3% and 4% raise, which will come out to about $110-$125 more a month, gross. I’m not counting it yet because it will be a few weeks before it’s final and she said “probably” at least 3%, but it really depends on the budget and how much others get, etc.

I’m REALLY debating putting that 3% directly into my 403(b) at work, or at least 2% to get the match. I’ll still be bringing home the same amount of money, give or take a few dollars, and I would feel so much better if I was putting something into that account.

I know it’s not Dave’s plan, and if I follow his play and use this to help pay off debts I’ll be able to pay them off a little sooner, start my emergency fund a little sooner, and start funding my retirement accounts the full 15%. Dave’s plan makes sense, but I’m also not keen on waiting a few more years to do this. Now that I’ve been doing well with my bills and am saving money, I feel like this is something I should be doing.

It’s tough to go against what has been ingrained in us for so long — SAVE FOR RETIREMENT! — but I will fight it. I think I’m going to post about this over at the LLNOE board and see how they deal with this.

 I already am pretty sure that I never want to own a house and that instead of paying off a mortgage I will have rent payments my life. I know many say that owning a home is a good investment, etc. but I think I’d be a horrible homeowner. Plus, people act like when you own a home and it’s paid for that that’s it, lol. I know better — there are taxes, new roofs, air cooling and heating systems that break, etc. Plus, homeowner’s insurance is much more than renter’s, and then you need to get flood insurance on top of that.

 I’ll have to see if Tim and I change our minds by the time we get to that point. It will be a while so I guess I just need to calm down and not worry about it for now.